My dear brothers and sisters,
As a bond servant to our Lord and Savior, I want to come to you with the deepest love and humility. I have been writing and saying many things that have been argumentative. The reason for this is not so that I may try to come across as some spiritual know it all. I do admit that as I have been learning many historical things about our faith and diving into the Old Testament and Judaic principles that I have come across as prideful and haughty. I do believe the enemy may have tempted me into that mindset in order to create conflict among us. I want to resolve this conflict.
My journey in learning all these things and making them the main focus on my status updates and such is to provoke my fellow believers to think and consider them. My teachers have taught me to do my own research and not just take mainstream ideas for granted. We have grown up in a church that have taken ideological and theological arguments and haven't fully investigated them with solid scriptural background. As I have been learning about the background of our faith and how the Jewish faith has actually preserved many important things and how the Catholic/Protestant movements have perverted our faith, it has opened my eyes on why we do what we do. It has also made me aware that there are things we shouldn't do and mold our minds around the Hebrew mindset and interpretation of scripture. Not the Greek/Roman/American modern day interpretation of things.
I argue why things are so important because we are constantly deceived by modern day thinking. I heard a great quote today and I believe God had me hear it for a reason. "The purpose of arguing is the pursuit of truth." I know Titus and Timothy advocate not having foolish arguments. But I believe my arguments about the things we believe should never be foolish. We must always know why we do what we do and always have purpose behind what we do and believe. Any part of scripture is never there for just "fill in space." If it is there, it is there for a reason!
Something I think I have been noticing is that I have been failing to get you, my loved ones, excited about what I have been learning. And rather turning you away from it which hurts me even more. I already feel very alone in trying to do what's right and I lack the encouragement in what I am learning. I don't see you guys enough as it is day in and day out. I feel as if I am back in the military again trying to keep myself spiritually nourished on my own with no accountability and no one to challenge me in my faith. I've learned that you don't learn just be reading, you learn by example. This is obviously what Yeshua came to do.
When I argue about the Torah and following the Law, I don't argue that it is meant for salvation. It was never meant for that. What I do believe is that if we are to keep ourselves holy, because Christ makes us holy, we must follow the Law. The Law tells us how to stay holy, to keep us from profaning ourselves, and to be separate from the world. It tells us how to live a blessed life. God said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." It was never foretold that one day some would be done away with. That some would be acceptable and others wouldn't. We have come to a point where we have some kind of "edited" version that only apply today. If you read from Yeshua's words that he commanded, he actually added on to the commandments. He didn't take away to make it easier, he made it harder.
I don't claim to be a prophet. But as I read the story of Jeremiah, I feel a connection with him because God commissioned this young guy to tell His people what they needed to hear even if they didn't want to hear it. Jeremiah didn't want to upset the people but knew that he had to speak anyways. The Word of God couldn't be contained inside of him. That's how I feel. I don't mean to speak it out of "YOU MUST DO THIS AND DO THAT!" I don't mean it to come across as some kind of "I know better than you do therefore you must listen to me!" Far from it!
There seems to be a lot of questioning about the things I believe such as which laws I follow. My answer to that is, I believe in what the Law says. Now some circumstances have changed. Prophecies have been fulfilled and that has put forth a REnewed way of doing things. But the principle still applies. What I have desired is, instead of questioning my motives and what I have been learning, I want you to listen to the radio programs and decide for yourself. I am only a man and even those of you who know me well know that I can tend to have a hard time explaining things properly because I have an ADHD tendency! Haha!
I believe there are deeper things in scripture that we are not allowing ourselves to discover and as I am discovering these things for myself, I get excited and want to share them! I don't want to keep them to myself because that would be selfish! I want to get our minds wrapped around God's! I realize how much I have been missing in years past as I learn from my teachers! Proverbs 25:2 says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but it is the glory of kings to search out a matter." Meaning that God wants us to pursue what he has hidden.
Some of you are aware of my desire to get into geocaching and to me I believe God has given me this desire because God's favorite thing to do is to hide something and for us to go out and find it. Using God's Positioning System (the Torah) we are able to understand why things were placed in the rest of the scriptures. It is the key on the map that explains everything else and tells us where we are going and what to look for. The voice coming from the GPS is the Holy Spirit to help guide us. That is what I believe.
I want to challenge you guys to look into this stuff as well because I don't want to do this alone. And I honestly want to know what you think. These teachers have taught me so much, the Holy Spirit has been confirming the things they have taught me, and as I do my own research on these things, my eyes are just opened. I used to have doubts, I used to struggle with so many issues and doctrines, and now I have a peace about those matters. The Truth has set me free! I don't believe one part of scripture is more important than the other. But I do believe that if you want to understand all of scripture, you have to understand where it came from which is the first 5 books.
On the topic of the holidays, or the holy days, research their significance. We were told by God to remember those days, to celebrate them, to teach the traditions to our children so that we would never forget what God did for us back then and continue to look forward to what He will do, especially when it comes to Shabbat, or the Sabbath. I believe we are failing when it comes to this day. It is meant for rest, time spent with loved ones, and meditating on God's Word. How many of us still incorporate work, stress of some kind, and don't give God His time to be spent with us? Shabbat is God's appointment with Him and if we don't invite Him into our place of rest, what kind of message is that sending Him?
I have so much to say and not enough words or time to say it all in. My heart's desire is that we will pursue the truth together someday. It may take many discussions, some may be argumentative, but when arguing, have it be in love and pursuing what is righteous and for God's glory! I wish I could say all these things to everyone in person but with our busy lives and everyone being stretched thin with things, I felt this would be the best way to share with you what has been on my mind and heart. I love you all and look forward to hearing back from you at some point.
“May the LORD bless you and keep you; May the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; May the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Shalom
P.S. The radio programs can be found at www.solaceradio.com
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